


Don't Catch Yourself on the Way Down

by Naespresso



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2, Welcome to Hell - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2019-08-20 12:24:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16555712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naespresso/pseuds/Naespresso
Summary: After a very unfortunate event that landed him in Hell, Nagito Komaeda is assigned to haunt, pester, and be a general nuance to an unsuspecting Hajime Hinata. The job initially seems easy, until he realizes he isn't as good at his job as he thought he would be. In a race against time to complete his mission, Nagito soon learns that the more time he spends around the initially cold brunette, the more second thoughts he has about completing it.





	1. Prologue  - The Unfortunate Job Interview

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya!! This is my first official piece on here and I really hope you all enjoy it at least somewhat! If you could comment down any suggestions, theories, or anything else you have to say, that'd be very appreciated! I'd very much love to see what you all have to say about the piece. 
> 
> If you're at all curious about the AU further, check out the blog for this AU here: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/alittledespairneverkilledanyone

The pale green eyes of Nagito Komaeda opened to a near empty classroom with dark wood floorboards, brown walls, and desks bolted to the floor, which he found odd, but not the center of his attention. Rather, he was focused on who sat behind the teacher’s desks.  

 

“ _ And there he is, the man of the minute. A man soaked in such utter despair not even he can fathom it as such, living with his own denial and masking himself as hopeful garbage. _ ” The pink-haired lady in the room spun in her chair a few times around before using her foot to slow down. “Not surprising- take a damn seat, would you? I have an appointment later so you’d better make this quick!” She huffed, opening a side drawer and removing a cherry sucker from it. Unwrapping it and putting it into her mouth, she tilted her head a bit. “ _ Well _ ?”

 

“To be honest, I don’t know why I’m here.” He admitted with a small smile. “Or even where  _ here  _ is honestly. Useless, I know-”

 

“OMG, would you shut up for like, .8 seconds?” She sighed, repositioning her legs to rest on the table, crossed at her ankles. “You’re totally fucking dead my dude! Shame, really. I could’ve gone a few more years without seeing you but whatever. We need more people here.”

 

“This is a dumb question coming from me, but, where exactly  _ is  _ here?” The woman looked up at him with a large grin on her face.

 

“Hope’s Peak Academy, duh! Well, actually Hell but this place is close enough in another world apparently- plus, it’s comfy right? There’s even a coffee machine- check it!” She pointed towards said coffee machine. “Don’t touch it.” Her newly cold tone cut through Nagito like a knife despite him only flinching in the direction of the coffee machine. Taking the girl’s advice at last, he sat down in front of the teacher’s desk, sitting unusually straight.

 

“Sorry but, I’m a little confused. If this is really  _ that  _ terrible of a place then shouldn’t I be, you know, suffering for all of eternity?”

 

“You sound like you’re asking for it. If you’re going to be such a masochist I’ll just send you off myself. I mean, I  _ would  _ if I didn’t have an actual reason to call you here…” Nagito couldn’t help but lean forwards in curiosity.

 

“Me? What could you possibly want with someone as repulsive as me?”

 

“Well, to put it simply, I wanna make a deal.” She said, slipping her sucker out of her mouth. “I’ll spare you some punishment if you willingly work for me since while the break is pretty great, we’re running pretty damn low on staff thanks to one of the angels of the Lor-T finding some way to convert them. Because of that, we need more people and I think, that you’d be perfect for the scouting job.” Pushing her spinning chair back a bit and turning to face a file cabinet, she opened it and stood back. Outcame a drawer of files that extended much farther than normal desk drawers would. 

 

“You specifically have to get him down here with us in the shortest amount of time as possible- which can either be totally boring or totally fun depending on how you do it! Like, this guy’s someone we can use.” After retrieving the file she needed, she kicked the door shut and slid it towards Nagito.

 

“So, this is, him?” Nagito asked. He stared down at the photo, mentally noting traits he believed stuck out to him.

 

“You say that as if you know your job already- don’t get ahead of yourself, Nagito.”

 

“It isn’t hard to understand, even for a worthless stepping stone like me.” Nagito stood up, placing his hands spread out on the surface separating the two. “ _ I get to kill people, right? _ ”

 

“You sound excited to do the task- then again, knowing how you were I shouldn’t be. But, no, you don’t kill anyone. Buuuut, you  _ do _ get to help people kill  _ themselves,  _ and honestly I find that just as rewarding. But, of course, if you don’t want to-”

  
“Are you kidding?” Nagito’s voice became significantly lower than it was previously, his eyes intently focused now on the file before him. “The opportunity to deliver hope to everyone around him after he dies? It’s, a privilege I’m  _ honored  _ to accept.” The dark, crazed look in his eye greatly contrasted with his only slightly off-putting smile. 

The woman was, admittedly, a bit surprised he accepted so soon.

“Fantastic! There’s no deadline, but having him as dead as a door knob as soon as possible would be totally appreciated, thanks! Now, bye.” With a simple wave, Nagito found himself not anywhere near where he was moments before.

  
“ _ For hope, this should be easy, right?... _ ”


	2. My Stalker's a Teenage Ghost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagito finally gets a chance to see his assignment, and boy is he in for a treat late in the night-

Hajime Hinata wasn’t a very peculiar high school student. His routine was pretty much the exact same day by day: on weekdays he woke up, sometimes had breakfast, went to school, suffered, walked home, did homework, and then used his free time however he pleased before heading to sleep, and on weekends he worked. He usually never strayed away from this routine, not even for friends that had even less time than he did to hang around him. He was fine alone, though- it wasn’t hard finding something to keep him busy.

That is what Nagito had figured out during his first week of trailing Hajime. Junko had stated that he had no given due date to make the brunette’s death occur, so he decided taking the time he thought he needed to analyze the other’s lifestyle and personality from a distance would help with his mission.

In truth, it didn’t, but he was glad he did it anyways. 

It felt like a better way to get to know someone than to just walk up to them and speak in Nagito’s case- especially considering most people refused to talk with him for longer than a single short conversation. Clearly he wasn’t a great person to interact with, and he was fine with that. Fine with the notion that no one wanted to talk to human scum like him anyways. If he was ever going to get his job done, he’d have to talk with him sometime. He knew that. Yet, he stalled anyways.

He stayed at a distance for that full week, until that Sunday night. It was around ten o’clock when Hajime had went to bed that night, but didn’t seem to fall asleep until eleven. Nagito didn’t know that until now. Did he have trouble sleeping? He’d have to check back on other days of the week too. When he believed Hajime was asleep, Nagito hesitantly approached, constantly shifting his scarf and lightly biting down on his lip as he looked over the other’s features closely.

He wished he had seen this earlier.

Hajime’s usually stern and/or annoyed expression was at that time replaced with soft features on his skin, which was notably more lively than Nagito’s ever was or could be now. His spiky hair was still just that, but even as he slept, the edges seemed much less sharp. Perhaps the edges of them seemed sharper than they were because of his personality? That was hardly likely, but- Hajime Hinata seemed interesting already.

Handsome up close, definitely.

Indubitably. 

Nagito allowed himself to hover just over the brunette’s face, practically inches away as he focused on his features a bit more. What in the world was he looking for? He didn’t even know, but whatever it was, he wasn’t going to get it like this. At noticing the slow rise and fall of his chest, Nagito briefly remembered what breathing was like.

Tedious when you had to think about it.

Was that why he stopped?...

Interrupting his question, he noticed Hajime’s eyelids flutter open, his olive green eyes looking into his own pale forest ones. He was took taken back by their flavor to acknowledge the other male abruptly sitting up in his bed with his brows raised and eyes widened.

“What are you doing in my room?” He asked, his tone biting enough to make Nagito flinch as he reached for his phone.

“I-I, wouldn’t call the authorities if I were you…” He said, again distracted by the swiftness of his movement. 

Had he always been muscular like that?

It wasn’t particularly noticeable- especially not in his school outfit, but, he kind of liked it-

“Exactly why shouldn’t I?...” Hajime felt his heart beat a million miles a minute, his eyes darting around for a safe exit.

“No one can see me, and I haven’t touched anything here.” Nagito delivered a soft smile and a shrug, to which Hajime returned a puzzled look.

“What? I can see you- and if I can, the police can-” Hajime furrowed his brows as Nagito began to chuckle.

“That’s, a lot to explain. But, if you call now I can’t say a lot of people would take you very seriously.” Nagito said with a hint of amusement in his tone as he reached to rest his hand on Hajime’s shoulder. Hajime flinched, only to realize he didn’t actually feel anything- just a cold presence. He remained quiet, glancing up at the white-haired male with the semi-cocky grin that he would be tempted to punch off his ghastly face. Assuming he was dreaming would be something he would want to believe- but, actually feeling something that wasn’t typical, and seeing this guy before his eyes? It was insanely difficult to wrap his head around.

“So, what you’re trying to tell me is that you’re-”

“Dead.” Nagito’s grin morphed into an oddly calm smile. He did notice Hajime slightly shrink into his covers, but didn’t seem bothered by that either. In fact, it might just make his job a little bit easier. 

“...this is, so ripped out of an amateur animation-” Hajime groaned as he sat upright, raking his fingers through his hair and focusing on Nagito again with a new look in his eyes; a look that was nearly impossible to read, though the annoyed energy from it radiated above everything else those olive orbs had to offer. “Okay then, so- you’re dead. Let’s go with that. In any case, why are you here?...” Nagito seemed to hesitate for a few seconds as if he had any difficulties coming up with a reason to be there. 

“Because, I’m a demon,and I’m here to haunt you? Wait, no, that doesn’t sound right-” Hajime had already moved away from Nagito enough to press himself against the wall behind him. 

“What?. . .”

“That, didn’t seem right- can I try again? I’m Nagito Komaeda.” He extended his bandaged hand to shake, though didn’t fully understand Hajime’s confusion until he thought back to his little demonstration earlier. With a timid smile, he slowly moved his hand away. With great skepticism, Hajime sighed.

“Hajime...Hajime Hinata…” The brunette introduced himself. Nagito wasn’t about to say that he had already known that, as that might’ve led to an awkward conversation. “What was this about you coming here to ‘make sure I die’?” He asked using air quotations.

“Ah- that-” Nagito hovered just over the bed with his legs in a criss-cross applesauce formation. “Well, I’m here, because I need you, to kill yourself.” Hajime stared for a while. 

“That’s, probably both the weirdest and the darkest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

“Well, I mean- coming from a demon it shouldn’t be as surprising, right?”

“Actually, it’s kind of a bit more surprising, but in a different way I guess…” The two just went back and forth like that- Hajime being weirded out by Nagito’s general presence and Nagito increasingly intrigued by Hajime’s, but their conversation had derailed far from its starting point until the run rose that Monday morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah it's been a while since I've updated and I'm rEally sorry about that but,,, it's here?


End file.
